APRIL 2026 AUTHOR AWARDS ROUNDUP
Texas authors continue to grow their reputation in literary circles with this month’s collection of awards and accolades. Join us in celebrating the Lone Star literary community! Send congratulations to your favorite authors today.
Texas Institute of Letters 2026 Inductees
Adrianna Cuevas, Carlos Kevin Blanton, Char Miller, David Wright Faladé, Diane Wilson, Dianna Hutts Aston, Glenn Shaheen, James Wade, Jasminne Méndez, Jim LaVilla-Havelin, Katherine Center, KB Brookins, Liliana Valenzuela, Lise Olsen, Lynne Kelly, Mary Helene Specht, Maurice Chammah, Mike Blakely, Patty Griffin, Peniel E. Joseph, Rebecca Sharpless, Roberto Tejada, Steve Earle, and Tomás Q. Morín.
ire’ne lara silva is the recipient of the Texas Institute of Letters 2026 Jesse H. Jones Fellowship. The fellowship consists of a $9,000 award to fund the completion of a literary work of fiction, poetry, or nonfiction for a general audience.
American Library Association Awards
Coretta Scott King Honor Book–Split the Sky by Marie Arnold
Ralph Caldecott Medal Honor Book–Sundust by Zeke Peña
Belpré Illustration Honor Book–The Invisible Parade by John Picacio
Pura Belpré Young Adult Author Honor Book–The Story of My Anger by Jasminne Mendez
Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature– Legendary Frybread Drive-In: Intertribal Stories edited by Cynthia Leitich Smith
Odyssey Award for Young Adult Honor Book–Legendary Frybread Drive-In: Intertribal Stories edited by Cynthia Leitich Smith
American Indian Youth Literature Award for Best Young Adult Book–Legendary Frybread Drive-In: Intertribal Stories edited by Cynthia Leitich Smith
Nonfiction– The Undiscovered Country by Paul Hutton
Western Novel– Narrow the Road by James Wade
Mystery/Noir–A Hush at Midnight by Marlene M. Bell
Cozy Mystery–Home to Comfort by Kimberly Fish
Theo Boyd won the January Prestigious International Hope Book Awards in the Inspirational Memoir of Hope & Resilience for Hope All the Way.
Angela Dominguez’s book Gabby Torres Gets a Billion Followers is a Middle Grade Honor book in the 2026 Golden Kite Awards from SCBWI.
Lucie Frost won the Bronze medal in the Nonfiction/Humanities category of the Reader Views Reviews Choice Awards for her book How the Hell Did I Not Know That?
Sydney Dunlap won the Middle-Grade Fiction category of the 2025 Northern Lights Book Awards with her novel Racing the Clouds.
J.M. Kirkley captured Best Christian Historical Romance from the Artisan Book Reviews International Book Excellence Awards for the novel A Writing Upon the Sand.
Veronica Sites earned Honorable Mention in the Picture Books 6 & Older category of the Royal Dragonfly Book Awards for her book The Quiet Mushroom. The book was also a recent recipient of the Christlit Awards.
Raúl the Third earned a spot on the Honors list of the inaugural ALA Graphic Novels & Comics Round Table Award for The Snips: A Bad Buzz Day.
Harold J. Weiss and Bruce A. Glasrud received the Gail and Chuck Swanlund Award for Best Texas History Anthology from the Texas State Historical Association for their book Tracking the Texas Ranger Historians.
Amy Woods won the Novel with Romantic Elements category of The Emily contest from the League of Romance Writers for her novel Christmas in Honeybee Harbor.